PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (The National/PINA, Dec. 24) - Papua New Guinea church, government and business leaders were unanimous in calls for peace, goodwill, and caring during the holiday season.

They wished God's blessings upon all and offered hope for a better 2003 after the many problems the people and country faced in 2002.

Shopping centers were reported full with Christmas shoppers despite the difficult year.

Archbishop Karl Hesse, President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, recalled the year as having been hardest on the small people.

He said: "Many among us have suffered great misfortune during 2002. Death and disaster have touched our lives once more.

"HIV/AIDS causes more suffering each year and this year many more families discovered the reality of this illness. Hunger has even become a part of the lives of many among us.

The ship’s mission was in support of a professional exchange with Yap state authorities and in support of Operation Pacific Compass to provide medical care and supplies to residents of Yap’s outer islands.

The 16-man crew of Galveston Island was augmented by two doctors, Lt. Christopher Partridge from Naval Hospital, and Dennis Yeomans of the GCIC Dental Office on Guam for the duration of the trip.

A week-long professional exchange was conducted in Colonia, Yap, with over 60 members of the FSM Coast Guard, local law enforcement officers, and local search and rescue agencies. Topics covered during the professional exchange included search planning and execution, law enforcement procedures, rules of the road, emergency medicine, and the Global Positioning System.

Last week, during a visit to Vanuatu, Downer, criticized the recent opening of an office in Port Vila for Papua's pro-independence movement. Downer said that changes to Indonesia’s boundaries would lead to bloodshed.

Ondawame says that blood has already been spilt and many Papuan lives lost in the name of stability

The Papuan office was established with the assistance of the Vanuatu Government. Spokesman Daniel Bangtor said Vanuatu remains committed to assisting territories that are not independent.

He said of Vanuatu's position in the meeting with Mr Downer: "I think that the Minister of Foreign Affairs reiterated the government's stand ... that the Government's foreign policy on the situation like the West Papuan is that they should be given the necessary assistance to gain their independence." ...

AUCKLAND, New Zealand (The New Zealand Herald, Dec. 26) - The Importers Institute has launched an attack on the proposal for Qantas to buy a 22.5 per cent stake in Air New Zealand - instead favouring a sale of the national carrier to buyers who can run it more efficiently.

Lodging a submission with Australian and New Zealand competition regulators on the eve of Christmas, the institute said the deal would act to decrease carrying capacity, pushing up air-freight prices as a result.

But the institute did not stop with its self-interested goal of keeping freight prices down, claiming political rather than commercial factors would likely halt a sale if a potential buyer were to emerge.

Alternatively, the institute said, the Government had the option of "continuing to sink large amounts of taxpayers’ dollars into a failed business should it decide that it is too politically unpalatable to sell it".

JAKARTA, Indonesia (The Jakarta Post/Irian News, Dec. 24) - The Indonesian government said it would allow U.S. federal agents to participate in the investigation of the Aug. 30 shooting at the PT Freeport Indonesia gold mine in Timika, Papua, which killed two American workers and one Indonesian.

Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the government, however, would only allow American participation as part of a team led by the Indonesian police.

Susilo said the U.S. had a right to seek information about the deadly ambush at PT Freeport because "two of its citizens were killed in the incident."

He said "The establishment of a joint investigative team involving the Indonesian police and FBI officers is possible, but we must first draw up a framework for collaboration to avoid any excesses, such as the taking over of our (Indonesian) police's functions there," Susilo told reporters.

Pacific Islands Report is a nonprofit news publication of the Pacific Islands Development Program at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawai‘i. Offered as a free service to readers, PIR provides an edited digest of news, commentary and analysis from across the Pacific Islands region, Monday - Friday.